• natyadharmi (Indian drama)

    South Asian arts: Classical theatre: …the popular taste, and the natyadharmi, or stylized drama, which, using gesture language and symbols, was considered more artistic. In Shakuntala the king enters riding an imaginary chariot, and Shakuntala plucks flowers that are not there; in “The Little Clay Cart” the thief breaks through a nonexistent wall, and Maitreya…

  • Natyasastra (Indian drama treatise)

    Natyashastra, detailed treatise and handbook on dramatic art that deals with all aspects of classical Sanskrit theatre. It is believed to have been written by the mythic Brahman sage and priest Bharata (1st century bce–3rd century ce). Its many chapters contain detailed treatments of all the

  • Natyashastra (Indian drama treatise)

    Natyashastra, detailed treatise and handbook on dramatic art that deals with all aspects of classical Sanskrit theatre. It is believed to have been written by the mythic Brahman sage and priest Bharata (1st century bce–3rd century ce). Its many chapters contain detailed treatments of all the

  • nauarch (ancient Greek naval officer)

    nauarch, in ancient Greece, an admiral or supreme commander of the navy, used as an official title primarily in Sparta in the late 5th and early 4th centuries bc. The Spartan nauarch could hold office only once, for a period of one year, and being subject to the highest magistrates, the ephors,

  • nauba (music)

    nawbah , in Middle Eastern music, particularly the traditions of North Africa, an elaborate suite of movements that constitutes the main form of classical Arabic music in that region. It consists of 8 to 10 sections of varying length, rhythmic character, and degree of improvisation, depending on

  • Naucoridae (insect)

    creeping water bug, any flat-backed, oval-shaped insect of the family Naucoridae (order Heteroptera), which numbers about 150 species. These small, dark bugs, commonly found in tropical regions, range between 5 and 16 millimetres (0.2 and 0.6 inch) and, when submerged, breathe from air stored under

  • Naucrates ductor

    pilot fish, (Naucrates ductor), widely distributed marine fish of the family Carangidae (order Perciformes). Members of the species are found in the open sea throughout warm and tropical waters. The pilot fish is elongated and has a forked tail, a lengthwise keel on each side of the tail base, and

  • Naucratis (ancient Greek settlement, Egypt)

    Naukratis, ancient Greek settlement in the Nile River delta, on the Canopic (western) branch of the river. An emporion (“trading station”) with exclusive trading rights in Egypt, Naukratis was the centre of cultural relations between Greece and Egypt in the pre-Hellenistic period. The station was

  • Naudé, Gabriel (French librarian)

    Gabriel Naudé was a French physician and librarian, considered the first important theoretician of modern library organization. His treatise, Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque (1627; Advice on Establishing a Library), was the first important study of library science. Naudé studied medicine at

  • Naugatuck (town and borough, Connecticut, United States)

    Naugatuck, town (township) and borough, New Haven county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S. It lies along the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury. Settled as early as 1702 by Samuel Hickox from Waterbury, the locality was called Judd’s Meadows and, later, in 1734, South Farms. Following the

  • Naugatuck (Connecticut, United States)

    Seymour, town (township), New Haven county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S. It lies along the Naugatuck River near New Haven. The area was settled about 1678 as part of Derby on land purchased from the Pequot Indians, who called it Naugatuck. It was known successively as Rimmon (1670); Chusetown

  • Naughton, Bill (British playwright)

    Bill Naughton was an Irish-born British playwright who is best remembered for a series of working-class comedies he wrote in the 1960s, most notably Alfie (1963; filmed 1966), an episodic, unsentimental tale of an egocentric Cockney womanizer. When Naughton was a child, his family moved from

  • Naughton, William John Francis (British playwright)

    Bill Naughton was an Irish-born British playwright who is best remembered for a series of working-class comedies he wrote in the 1960s, most notably Alfie (1963; filmed 1966), an episodic, unsentimental tale of an egocentric Cockney womanizer. When Naughton was a child, his family moved from

  • Naughts and Crosses (game)

    number game: Puzzles involving configurations: …for two players, such as ticktacktoe and its more sophisticated variations, one of which calls for each player to begin with three counters (3 black, 3 white); the first player places a counter in any cell, except the center cell, of a 3 × 3 diagram; the players then alternate…

  • Naughty But Nice (film by Webb [1927])

    Colleen Moore: pictures as Flaming Youth (1923), Naughty But Nice (1927), Synthetic Sin (1929), and Why Be Good? (1929).

  • Naughty Marietta (film by Leonard and Van Dyke [1935])

    Irving Thalberg: With Naughty Marietta (1935) he initiated a long series of successful musicals starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. About the same time, he helped revive the Marx Brothers’ careers by producing two of their best comedies, A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at…

  • Naujan Lake (lake, Philippines)

    Naujan Lake, lake on the northeastern coastal plain of Mindoro, Philippines. It is the Philippines’ fifth largest lake, with an area of 30 square miles (79 square km). The lake is 8.5 miles (14 km) long and 4 miles (6 km) wide and is a productive freshwater fishing site. It is the central feature

  • Naujan Lake National Park (park, Philippines)

    Naujan Lake: …is the central feature of Naujan Lake National Park (established in 1956), which comprises a 5,377-acre (2,175-hectare) area of marshes and forest that serve as breeding grounds for marsh birds, crocodiles, and sail-finned lizards. Naujan Lake was formerly a popular hunting and sport-fishing area; fishing rights have been retained only…

  • Naukanski Siberian Yupik language

    Eskimo-Aleut languages: Yupik: …Prince William Sound; Naukan (Naukanski Siberian Yupik), whose speakers were resettled southward from Cape Dezhnyov, the easternmost point of the Eurasian landmass; Central Siberian Yupik (mainly Yupigestun [Akuzipik, Chaplinski Yupik]), which is spoken in the Chukchi Peninsula and on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; and the very divergent Sirenikski, now…

  • Naukratis (ancient Greek settlement, Egypt)

    Naukratis, ancient Greek settlement in the Nile River delta, on the Canopic (western) branch of the river. An emporion (“trading station”) with exclusive trading rights in Egypt, Naukratis was the centre of cultural relations between Greece and Egypt in the pre-Hellenistic period. The station was

  • Naulahka, The (romance by Kipling and Balestier)

    Rudyard Kipling: Life: …whom he had collaborated in The Naulahka (1892), a facile and unsuccessful romance. That year the young couple moved to the United States and settled on Mrs. Kipling’s property in Vermont, but their manners and attitudes were considered objectionable by their neighbours. Unable or unwilling to adjust to life in…

  • naumachia (ancient Roman theater)

    naumachia, in ancient Rome, a mimic sea battle and the specially constructed basin in which such a battle sometimes took place. These entertainments also took place in flooded amphitheatres. The opposing sides were prisoners of war or convicts, who fought until one side was destroyed. The earliest

  • naumachiae (ancient Roman theater)

    naumachia, in ancient Rome, a mimic sea battle and the specially constructed basin in which such a battle sometimes took place. These entertainments also took place in flooded amphitheatres. The opposing sides were prisoners of war or convicts, who fought until one side was destroyed. The earliest

  • Nauman, Bruce (American artist)

    Bruce Nauman is an American artist whose work in a broad range of mediums made him a major figure in conceptual art. Nauman was educated at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (B.A., 1964), and the University of California, Davis (M.F.A., 1966), and became part of the burgeoning California art

  • Naumann, Friedrich (German social and political theorist)

    Friedrich Naumann was a political and social theorist, publicist, and reformer who became one of the most influential partisans of German liberalism combined with imperialism. As a young pastor, Naumann had joined the Christian Social movement of the Prussian court chaplain Adolf Stoecker, but he

  • Naumburg (Germany)

    Naumburg, city, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), east-central Germany. It lies along the Saale River, near the mouth of the Unstrut River, southwest of Halle. Founded by the margraves of Meissen about the year 1000, Naumburg was granted to the bishop of Zeitz when he transferred his seat there in 1028.

  • Naumkeag (Massachusetts, United States)

    Salem, city, Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Salem Bay Harbor (an inlet of Massachusetts Bay), 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Boston. Salem was incorporated as a town in 1626 by Roger Conant, who emigrated from Cape Ann, 14 miles (22 km) northeast. The first Congregational

  • Nauplia (Greece)

    Nauplia, town and dímos (municipality), Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos) periféreia (region), southwestern Greece, at the head of the Gulf of Argolís (Argolikós Kólpos). The port, southeast of Árgos, sits on the north slope of twin crags; Itche (or Its) Kale (279 feet [85 metres]), the

  • nauplius (zoology)

    animal development: The larval stage: In crustaceans the larva, called nauplius, does not differ substantially in mode of life or means of locomotion from the adult but has fewer appendages than the adult. A typical crustacean nauplius has three pairs of legs and an unpaired simple eye. Additional pairs of appendages and paired compound eyes…

  • Naur, Peter (Danish astronomer and computer scientist)

    Peter Naur was a Danish astronomer and computer scientist and winner of the 2005 A.M. Turing Award, the highest honour in computer science, for “fundamental contributions to programming language design and the definition of Algol 60, to compiler design, and to the art and practice of computer

  • nauratan (amulet)

    jewelry: Indian: …of Hindu amulet called a nauratan was made of a gold plaque with nine precious stones fastened above it. A series of nauratans could be used to form a necklace. Jeweled belts followed the shape of the body and often had extra pieces that reached up to the neck or…

  • Nauru (island country, Pacific Ocean)

    Nauru, island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of a raised coral island located in southeastern Micronesia, 25 miles (40 km) south of the Equator. The island is about 800 miles (1,300 km) northeast of the Solomon Islands; its closest neighbor is the island of Banaba, in

  • Nauru, flag of

    national flag consisting of a blue field with a single horizontal yellow stripe and a white star in the lower hoist corner. The flag’s width-to-length ratio is 1 to 2.None of the colonial flags flown by the German, British, or Australian rulers of the island were appropriate for the Republic of

  • Nauru, Republic of (island country, Pacific Ocean)

    Nauru, island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of a raised coral island located in southeastern Micronesia, 25 miles (40 km) south of the Equator. The island is about 800 miles (1,300 km) northeast of the Solomon Islands; its closest neighbor is the island of Banaba, in

  • Nauruan language

    Micronesian languages: …two Micronesian languages, Yapese and Nauruan, are of uncertain relation to the Nuclear Micronesian group. Nuclear Micronesian languages are similar in phonology and close enough in structure to show their close interrelationship, but vocabulary items generally show few similarities, with less than 25 percent of the total vocabulary similar within…

  • Naurūz (Zoroastrianism and Parsiism)

    Nowruz, festival celebrating the start of the new year on the Persian calendar. Nowruz, meaning “new day” in Persian (or Fārsī), occurs on the spring equinox, which is the first day of the month of Farvardīn on the Iranian calendar. The holiday usually falls on March 21 on the Gregorian calendar.

  • naus (prehistoric grave)

    naus, prehistoric grave found in the Balearic Isles. The naus was built of closely fitting blocks of stone in the shape of an overturned boat with a rounded stern and a squared or slightly concave front. A small door in the front gave access to a slab-roofed passage leading to a long, rectangular

  • Nausea (novel by Sartre)

    Nausea, first novel by Jean-Paul Sartre, published in French in 1938 as La Nausée. It is considered Sartre’s fiction masterwork and is an important expression of existentialist philosophy. Nausea is written in the form of a diary that narrates the recurring feelings of revulsion that overcome

  • nausea (pathology)

    nausea, (from Greek nausia, “seasickness”), feeling of discomfort in the pit of the stomach that is associated with a revulsion for food and an expectation that vomiting will follow, as it often does. Nausea results from the irritation of nerve endings in the stomach or duodenum, which in turn

  • Nauset (people)

    Nauset, any member of an Algonquian-speaking Native North American tribe that occupied most of what is now Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. The Nauset probably came into contact with Europeans at an early date because of their location, and Samuel de Champlain is known to have encountered them in 1606.

  • Naushahra (Pakistan)

    Nowshera, town, Kyber Pakhtunkhwa province, northern Pakistan. Lying on a sandy plain surrounded by hills, on the banks of the Kābul River (there bridged), Nowshera is a commercial and industrial centre that is connected by rail and road with Dargai (Malakand Pass), Mardan, Peshawar, and

  • Naushahro-Fīroz (archaeological site, Pakistan)

    India: Other important sites: …Balochistan, the small settlement of Naushahro Firoz provides valuable evidence of the actual transformation of Early Harappan into mature Harappan. Near the Rann of Kachchh, Surkotada is a small settlement with an oblong fortification wall of stone. Also in Kachchh is Dholavira, which appears to be among the largest Harappan…

  • Naushehra (Pakistan)

    Rahīmyār Khān, town, southern Punjab province, Pakistan. The town was founded in 1751 as Naushehra and received its present name in 1881. It is linked by road and rail with Bahāwalpur, Multān, and Sukkur and is a growing industrial centre (cotton ginning and cottonseed-oil pressing). It has a large

  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film by Miyazaki)

    Miyazaki Hayao: Launch of Studio Ghibli: …no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), a monthly manga (Japanese cartoon) strip he wrote for Animage magazine. The story followed Naushika, a princess and reluctant warrior, on her journey through an ecologically ravaged world. Its success inspired a film of the same name (released…

  • Nausikaa (drama by Goethe)

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Italian journey (1786–88) of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: …some scenes for a drama, Nausikaa, which was never completed but contains some of his most beautiful verse, evocative of the Mediterranean islands and, flitting about them, the almost audible ghosts of Classical antiquity. From Messina he returned to Naples, from which he visited the best-preserved of all Doric temples,…

  • Nausiphanes (Greek philosopher)

    Epicurus: Early life and training: …Teos, where his teacher was Nausiphanes, a disciple of the naturalistic philosopher Democritus. It may have been from this source that Epicurus’ atomistic theory came, which he used not as a means of studying physics but as the basis for a philosophical system that ultimately sought ethical ends.

  • nautanki (Indian folk dance)

    South Asian arts: The performing arts in India: …of opera (bhavai, terukkuttu, and nautanki), the characters sing and dance at the same time or alternate. Ballad singers from the states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh dramatize their singing by strong facial gestures and rhythmic ankle bells and execute dance phrases between the narrative singing. On the other hand,…

  • Nautical Almanac, The (British publication)

    navigation: Almanacs and tables: …were published in the annual Nautical Almanac, which was inaugurated in 1766.

  • nautical chart

    map: Nautical charts: Nautical charts are commonly large, 28 by 40 inches (70 centimetres by 1 metre) being an internationally accepted maximum size. In order that a navigator may work with them efficiently, charts must be kept with a minimum of folding in drawers in a…

  • nautical mile (unit of measurement)

    nautical mile, unit of distance used for air and sea navigation. The nautical mile is defined as the length on the Earth’s surface of one minute ( 1 60 of a degree) of arc along a longitude. The distance covered between two latitudinal lines is 60 nautical miles. One nautical mile is equivalent to

  • nautili (cephalopod)

    nautilus, either of two genera of cephalopod mollusks: the pearly, or chambered, nautilus (Nautilus), to which the name properly applies; and the paper nautilus (Argonauta), a cosmopolitan genus related to the octopus. The pearly nautilus has a smooth, coiled external shell about 25 cm (10 inches)

  • nautiloid (cephalopod)

    mollusk: Annotated classification: …subclasses are Palcephalopoda (Orthoceroida; fossils); Nautiloida (fossil groups and 3–5 recent species); Ammonoida (fossils); and Coleoida (fossils and 4 recent orders). Many aspects of molluscan classification remain unsettled, particularly for gastropods and bivalves. The Amphineura, the former name for a group made up of the Polyplacophora

  • Nautiloida (cephalopod)

    mollusk: Annotated classification: …subclasses are Palcephalopoda (Orthoceroida; fossils); Nautiloida (fossil groups and 3–5 recent species); Ammonoida (fossils); and Coleoida (fossils and 4 recent orders). Many aspects of molluscan classification remain unsettled, particularly for gastropods and bivalves. The Amphineura, the former name for a group made up of the Polyplacophora

  • Nautiloidea (cephalopod)

    mollusk: Annotated classification: …subclasses are Palcephalopoda (Orthoceroida; fossils); Nautiloida (fossil groups and 3–5 recent species); Ammonoida (fossils); and Coleoida (fossils and 4 recent orders). Many aspects of molluscan classification remain unsettled, particularly for gastropods and bivalves. The Amphineura, the former name for a group made up of the Polyplacophora

  • nautilus (cephalopod)

    nautilus, either of two genera of cephalopod mollusks: the pearly, or chambered, nautilus (Nautilus), to which the name properly applies; and the paper nautilus (Argonauta), a cosmopolitan genus related to the octopus. The pearly nautilus has a smooth, coiled external shell about 25 cm (10 inches)

  • Nautilus (submarine)

    Nautilus, any of at least three historic submarines (including the world’s first nuclear-powered vessel) and a fourth submarine famous in science fiction. The American engineer Robert Fulton built one of the earliest submersible craft in 1800 in France under a grant from Napoleon. A collapsible

  • Nautilus (United States submarine)

    Nautilus: The name Nautilus was chosen for the U.S. Navy vessel launched January 21, 1954, as the first submarine capable of prolonged, instead of temporary, submersion. Powered by propulsion turbines that were driven by steam produced by a nuclear reactor, the Nautilus was capable of traveling submerged at…

  • nautiluses (cephalopod)

    nautilus, either of two genera of cephalopod mollusks: the pearly, or chambered, nautilus (Nautilus), to which the name properly applies; and the paper nautilus (Argonauta), a cosmopolitan genus related to the octopus. The pearly nautilus has a smooth, coiled external shell about 25 cm (10 inches)

  • Nauvoo (Illinois, United States)

    Nauvoo, city, Hancock county, western Illinois, U.S. It lies along the Mississippi River, about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Burlington, Iowa. The area was long inhabited by Sauk and Fox Indians before American settlement. Permanent settlement was begun in 1824 by Captain James White, and the area

  • Nauwalabila I (archaeological site, Northern Territory, Australia)

    Nauwalabila I, rock shelter archaeological site in the Northern Territory, Australia, that archaeological evidence suggests is among the oldest Aboriginal sites on the continent, with an estimated age of more than 50,000 years. Nauwalabila I is located on the southern margin of Deaf Adder Gorge in

  • nav aid (navigation)

    airport: Navigational aids: The most common form of navaid used for the approach phase of aircraft descent is the instrument landing system (ILS). This is a radio signal that is beamed along the centreline of the runway and at the correct angle of approach (usually 3°…

  • Nava Vidhana (Hindu religious organization)

    Keshab Chunder Sen: …a new society—Naba Bidhan, or Nava Vidhana (“New Dispensation”)—continuing to preach a mixture of Hindu philosophy and Christian theology. He revived many ancient Vedic practices and sent 12 disciples to preach under a flag bearing a crescent, a cross, and a trident, the respective symbols of Islam, Christianity, and Shaivism…

  • Navadvipa school (Indian philosophy)

    Indian philosophy: The new school: … (author of Upaskara); and the Navadvipa school, whose chief representatives were Vasudeva Sarvabhauma (1450–1525), Raghunatha Shiromani (c. 1475–c. 1550), Mathuranatha Tarkavagisha (flourished c.1570), Jagadisha Tarkalankara (flourished c. 1625), and Gadadhara Bhattacharya (flourished c. 1650).

  • Navadwip (India)

    Nabadwip, city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. It lies at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Jalangi rivers. The Bhagirathi River has shifted its course, cutting the city off from the rest of the surrounding area. Reputedly founded in 1063, the town served as the ancient

  • navagraha (Indian astrology)

    navagraha, in Indian astrology (jyotisha), the set of nine celestial bodies that is thought to impact people’s lives in positive and negative ways, which many Hindus, and some Jains and Buddhists, endeavor to influence through rituals. The term navagraha comes from the Sanskrit words nava (“nine”)

  • Navaho (people)

    Navajo, an Indigenous North American people who settled in the Southwest of what is now the United States some time before European contact. Nearly 425,000 Americans claimed at least partial Navajo (self-name Diné) descent in the 2020 U.S. census, with more than 315,000 solely claiming Navajo

  • Navaho (missile)

    rocket and missile system: Navaho: The second postwar U.S. cruise missile effort was the Navaho, an intercontinental supersonic design. Unlike earlier efforts, which were extrapolated from V-1 engineering, the Navaho was based on the V-2; the basic V-2 structure was fitted with new control surfaces, and the rocket engine…

  • Navaho language

    Navajo language, North American Indian language of the Athabascan family, spoken by the Navajo people of Arizona and New Mexico and closely related to Apache. Navajo is a tone language, meaning that pitch helps distinguish words. Nouns are either animate or inanimate. Animate nouns may be

  • Navaho Witchcraft (work by Kluckhohn)

    Clyde K.M. Kluckhohn: Wyman), and Navaho Witchcraft (1944), which is considered his finest work.

  • navaid (navigation)

    airport: Navigational aids: The most common form of navaid used for the approach phase of aircraft descent is the instrument landing system (ILS). This is a radio signal that is beamed along the centreline of the runway and at the correct angle of approach (usually 3°…

  • Navajo (people)

    Navajo, an Indigenous North American people who settled in the Southwest of what is now the United States some time before European contact. Nearly 425,000 Americans claimed at least partial Navajo (self-name Diné) descent in the 2020 U.S. census, with more than 315,000 solely claiming Navajo

  • Navajo code talkers (United States history)

    code talker: …initiated its employment of the Navajo code talkers with its first cohort of 29 recruits in May 1942. They served in all of the marine divisions and took part in their major campaigns. By the end of the war, the Marine Corps had employed 540 Navajos for service, 375 to…

  • Navajo Code Talkers Infographic

    The Navajo code talkers were Native American men serving as U.S. Marines in the Pacific theater of World War II who used their native language to foil the Japanese military’s monitoring of vital communications. By maintaining crucial radio contact on the battlefield, they played an important role

  • Navajo language

    Navajo language, North American Indian language of the Athabascan family, spoken by the Navajo people of Arizona and New Mexico and closely related to Apache. Navajo is a tone language, meaning that pitch helps distinguish words. Nouns are either animate or inanimate. Animate nouns may be

  • Navajo National Monument (Arizona, United States)

    Navajo National Monument, a complex of three prehistoric cliff dwellings near the town of Tonalea in northeastern Arizona, U.S. Located in the Navajo Reservation, the three sites—Betatakin (Navajo: “Ledge House”), Keet Seel (“Broken Pottery”), and Inscription House—are among the best-preserved and

  • Navajo weaving (art)

    Navajo weaving, blankets and rugs made by the Navajo and thought to be some of the most colourful and best-made textiles produced by North American Indians. The Navajo, formerly a seminomadic tribe, settled in the southwestern United States in the 10th and 11th centuries and were well established

  • Naval Academy, United States (military academy, Annapolis, Maryland, United States)

    United States Naval Academy, institution of higher education conducted by the U.S. Department of the Navy and located at Annapolis, Md., for the purpose of preparing young men and women to enter the lowest commissioned ranks of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The academy was founded as a Naval

  • naval aircraft (military technology)

    airplane: Takeoff and landing gear: The demands placed on naval planes used on aircraft carriers require a heavier structure to withstand the stresses of catapult launches and landings abruptly terminated by arresting gear. Landing-gear mechanisms are also reinforced, and a tail hook is installed to engage the arresting gear, a system that is also…

  • Naval Appropriations Act (United States [1916])

    United States: Arming for war: …the National Guard, but the Naval Appropriations Act of 1916 provided for more ships than the administration had requested.

  • naval architecture

    naval architecture, the art and science of designing boats and ships to perform the missions and to meet the requirements laid down by the prospective owners and operators. It involves knowledge of mechanics, hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, steady and unsteady body motion, strength of materials, and

  • naval base

    logistics: Special features of naval logistics: …involved a major dislocation in naval logistics and changed the stakes of imperial competition.

  • Naval Battle of the Lake (Venezuelan history [1823])

    In the Battle of Lake Maracaibo on July 24, 1823, José Prudencio Padilla led the 22-vessel fleet of Simón Bolívar’s Republic of Gran Colombia to victory over Ángel Laborde y Navarro’s superior Spanish squadron, which numbered 32 ships crewed by 1,650 highly trained mariners. Against unequal odds,

  • naval blockade (warfare)

    blockade, an act of war whereby one party blocks entry to or departure from a defined part of an enemy’s territory, most often its coasts. Blockades are regulated by international law and custom and require advance warning to neutral states and impartial application. In a memorandum prepared for

  • naval brass (alloy)

    brass: Characteristics of the alloy: …are more easily machined; the naval and admiralty brasses, in which a small amount of tin improves resistance to corrosion by seawater; and the aluminum brasses, which provide strength and corrosion resistance where the naval brasses may fail.

  • naval combat demolition unit (United States military unit)

    Navy SEAL: History: …World War II, particularly to naval combat demolition units (NCDUs) and underwater demolition teams (UDTs) whose “frogmen” were trained to destroy obstacles on enemy-held beaches prior to amphibious landings in Europe and the Pacific. Other special units of that war were scouts and raiders, who were assigned to reconnoitre coastal…

  • Naval de Manila, La (essay by Joaquin)

    Nick Joaquin: …publication of his essay “La Naval de Manila” (1943), a description of Manila’s fabled resistance to 17th-century Dutch invaders. After World War II he traveled to the United States, Mexico, and Spain, later serving as a cultural representative of the Philippines to Taiwan, Cuba

  • naval fleet (military force unit)

    military unit: …which in turn form a fleet. For operations, however, many navies organize their vessels into task units (3–5 ships), task or battle groups (4–10 ships), task forces (2–5 task groups), and fleets (several task forces).

  • naval force (military force)

    navy, a nation’s warships and craft of every kind maintained by armed forces for fighting on, under, or over the sea. A large modern navy includes aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, submarines, minesweepers and minelayers, gunboats, and various types of support, supply, and repair

  • Naval Intelligence, Office of (United States military)

    Central Intelligence Agency: The emergence of the CIA: …an unsystematic way by the Office of Naval Intelligence, by U.S. Army intelligence, and by the FBI. The information gathered was rarely shared with other government agencies and was sometimes not even provided to senior policy makers. For example, because of rivalries between army and navy intelligence offices, which did…

  • naval mine (weapon)

    submarine mine, underwater weapon designed to explode when a target presents itself. See

  • Naval Observatory, United States (observatory, Washington, District of Columbia, United States)

    United States Naval Observatory (USNO), in Washington, D.C., an official source, with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; formerly the National Bureau of Standards), for standard time in the United States. The positional measurement of celestial objects for purposes of

  • Naval Ordnance Laboratory (United States military organization)

    operations research: History: … began in 1942 in the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. This group, which dealt with mine warfare problems, was later transferred to the Navy Department, from which it designed the aircraft mining blockade of the Inland Sea of Japan.

  • Naval Special Warfare Development Group (United States military group)

    SEAL Team 6, common name for an elite U.S. military special missions unit consisting of Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, and Land forces). SEAL Team 6 is best known for the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. It is overseen by the Joint Special Operations Command, a component of the

  • Naval Special Warfare Group One (United States military group)

    Navy SEAL: Training and deployment: …teams are components of either Naval Special Warfare Group One, based at Coronado on the West Coast, or Naval Special Warfare Group Two, based at Little Creek, near Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the East Coast. Each of the groups is also assigned an SDV team, which operates submersible craft designed…

  • Naval Special Warfare Group Two (United States military group)

    Navy SEAL: Training and deployment: …on the West Coast, or Naval Special Warfare Group Two, based at Little Creek, near Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the East Coast. Each of the groups is also assigned an SDV team, which operates submersible craft designed to insert and extract SEALs operating in marine areas. Many other boat and…

  • naval stores (resinous products)

    naval stores, products such as tar, pitch, turpentine, pine oil, rosin, and terpenes obtained from the pine and other coniferous trees, and originally used in maintaining wooden sailing ships. Naval stores are produced chiefly by the United States and France, with large amounts coming also from

  • Naval Tactical Data System (United States military)

    warning system: Air defense systems: …links, is connected with the Naval Tactical Data System, located in fleet headquarters, which processes, organizes, and displays information of the overall picture of the tactical situation.

  • Naval Tracts (work by Monson)

    Sir William Monson: …his retirement he composed his Naval Tracts, which were first printed in abbreviated form in 1682, then in full in 1704, a definitive edition in five volumes being edited by M. Oppenheim for the Navy Records Society in 1902–14. It is to these writings that Monson owes his fame, since,…

  • Naval War College (college, Newport, Rhode Island, United States)

    war college: U.S. Naval War College: The oldest military institution in the United States is the NWC, established in 1884 on Coasters Harbor Island, Newport, Rhode Island, to offer an advanced course of professional study for naval officers. The founding president, Commodore Stephen B. Luce, viewed the…

  • Naval War with France (United States history)

    United States: The Federalist administration and the formation of parties: Virtual naval war with France had followed from American acceptance of British naval protection. In 1798 a French attempt to solicit bribes from American commissioners negotiating a settlement of differences (the so-called XYZ Affair) aroused a wave of anti-French feeling. Later that year the Federalist majority…